What am I doing wrong?!

Options
nehalsd
nehalsd Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am so frustrated, I haven't lost a pound in 3 weeks!

I am 28 & 144lbs and 5ft5. I've been on MFP for 8 weeks on 1200 'clean' calories a day and I exercise 4 times a week (1 strength, 1 stretch -ashtanga yoga, 2 intense cardio -spinning & running).

My goal is 120 pounds - It might seem small, but I have a small frame.

My food is healthy low GI foods, that I cook and prepare myself - (check my page and food if you want to).

It is soo frustrating, I have no idea why I have plateaux. There is no way I can cut out carbs.

Please help me, any suggestions on what I am doing wrong?

N.
«13

Replies

  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
    Options
    Open your food diary.
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
    Options
    Eat more - your body has no fuel for functioning, never mind for all the exercise you want it to do.....
  • curvykent
    curvykent Posts: 140 Member
    Options
    I second that, make your food diary public and keep it public. Even if you don't eat clean for a meal or a day it's a great way to stay accountable and may make you reconsider a food choice because you know we'll be watching ;)

    A plateau is normal and part of most people's weight loss journey. Have you recently dropped more than a pound? Sometimes it takes a while for the body to readjust. Just keep doing the deal because you WILL lose weight.

    When I hit a plateau if it goes more than four weeks I try to change it up. If you do zumba and weight lift a lot, try doing HIIT (high intensity training) exercises like run for five minutes walk for two do this for thirty minutes. Or go for a walk and do it briskly for 45 minutes.

    Always make sure you are drinking half your body weight in ounces for water. More on hot days, more if you sweat during exercise, and eat complex carbs so that you stay hydrated.

    Try to do one day of all protein and green veggies with minimal fat and sodium. I do this and it helps me. Just a little trick I've learned over the years.

    The biggest thing to keep in mind is that if you have a calorie deficit you will lose weight. So don't give up if your body stalls.
  • nehalsd
    nehalsd Posts: 7 Member
    Options
    So I reached my all time high of around 155 pounds - I then quickly dropped to 144 in the first two weeks of mfp, and I haven't budged since.

    Eat more to lose weight? I just got used to eating so little! How many calories should I be consuming a day then?

    I drink around 2 litres of water a day - I don't think I can consume more than that.
    I second that, make your food diary public and keep it public. Even if you don't eat clean for a meal or a day it's a great way to stay accountable and may make you reconsider a food choice because you know we'll be watching ;)

    A plateau is normal and part of most people's weight loss journey. Have you recently dropped more than a pound? Sometimes it takes a while for the body to readjust. Just keep doing the deal because you WILL lose weight.

    When I hit a plateau if it goes more than four weeks I try to change it up. If you do zumba and weight lift a lot, try doing HIIT (high intensity training) exercises like run for five minutes walk for two do this for thirty minutes. Or go for a walk and do it briskly for 45 minutes.

    Always make sure you are drinking half your body weight in ounces for water. More on hot days, more if you sweat during exercise, and eat complex carbs so that you stay hydrated.

    Try to do one day of all protein and green veggies with minimal fat and sodium. I do this and it helps me. Just a little trick I've learned over the years.

    The biggest thing to keep in mind is that if you have a calorie deficit you will lose weight. So don't give up if your body stalls.
  • sympha01
    sympha01 Posts: 942 Member
    Options
    A couple of thoughts:

    1. Three weeks without losing a pound is frustrating, and I won't belittle that. BUT it's actually not that long. Seriously. I know it stinks, but hang in there. You could be surprised to see a "sudden" change in another two weeks. It has happened to me like that; I'm sticking to my meal and exercise plan with perfect consistency for months, but during some periods there's no weight change at all, and other periods it looks like I'm losing a dangerous-looking 3 or 4 pounds a week.

    2. Oftentimes, the scale is simply not your friend. Your body is made up of different compounds that have different densities / weights. What happens a lot during extended plateaux is that your body composition is shifting from low-density (high volume) compounds (like fat!) to high-density compounds (lean muscle mass, denser bones). It sounds to me VERY MUCH as if a lot of your exercise (strength training and yoga especially) is going to be adding density to your muscles and bones: this is a good thing! Your scale could show no change at all for a while while you're actually whittling down your flesh substantially.

    3. So track your measurements too!
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    Options
    So I reached my all time high of around 155 pounds - I then quickly dropped to 144 in the first two weeks of mfp, and I haven't budged since.

    Eat more to lose weight? I just got used to eating so little! How many calories should I be consuming a day then?

    I drink around 2 litres of water a day - I don't think I can consume more than that.

    Is 1200 the amount MFP set for you? Are you eating back your exercise calories? MFP calculates your needs assuming no exercise, i.e. you would lose weight without exercise. When you do exercise, you need extra fuel. Also, set your goal to lose 1 pound per week if it is not already. If you said 2 pounds per week, that deficit will be too large.
  • Jennjo322
    Jennjo322 Posts: 74 Member
    Options
    1200 seems rather low, up it another 100 or so and see how that works.
  • hardyjessicag
    hardyjessicag Posts: 93 Member
    Options
    Girl, I took a look at your diary and you're hardly netting any calories! One day you didn't even eat 1000 calories, and burned another 400! That's only a net of 600 calories! That's very low, and you need to calculate the correct amount of calories you need to eat (which you'll find is at least a little more than you're consuming now, at any rate)
  • NathanFronk
    NathanFronk Posts: 137 Member
    Options
    Why does it seem like whenever someone has this type of post that there are always people whose answer is "eat more!"?

    How about eating less?

    Eating less or exercising MORE at still 1200 calorie intake will force your body to start using the resources it has, and then once it does ramp back to 1200. At the OP's exercise level, 1200 is perfectly safe and all that is needed.

    Eat more is such an easy answer to believe, because it's the one that is easiest, fun, and what we want to hear.

    Maybe I'd go with Eat More Protein but keep calories the same. But that's the only type of "eat more" you should be doing.

    P.s. Please no one say anything about a body going into "starvation mode," you're watching too many infomercials. It's a simple calculation: calories in minus calories out. If there is a deficit you will lose weight. If you have a deficit and are not losing, you are miscalculating one number or the other, or both. On Naked and Afraid, Discovery's survival show the participants went 21 days with only a snake and a turtle to eat. The girl who wasn't fat to begin with lost 23 pounds. Her body did not, "miraculously stop using its stored resources" until she ate more.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    Options
    Because she is a young woman who is 5'5 and she is not extremely overweight. She shouldn't be eating so little and exercising so hard. By doing that, she is creating too much cortisol and upsetting other hormonal balances. She needs to be taking a smaller calorie deficit and giving it time.
  • pajouey79
    pajouey79 Posts: 39 Member
    Options
    Just switch it up a little. Your body is used to what you are doing now and you need to change something (different exercises maybe?)
  • NathanFronk
    NathanFronk Posts: 137 Member
    Options
    Just switch it up a little. Your body is used to what you are doing now and you need to change something (different exercises maybe?)

    I agree.
  • lallaloolly
    lallaloolly Posts: 228 Member
    Options
    Girl, I took a look at your diary and you're hardly netting any calories! One day you didn't even eat 1000 calories, and burned another 400! That's only a net of 600 calories! That's very low, and you need to calculate the correct amount of calories you need to eat (which you'll find is at least a little more than you're consuming now, at any rate)

    THIS^^^
  • NathanFronk
    NathanFronk Posts: 137 Member
    Options
    Because she is a young woman who is 5'5 and she is not extremely overweight. She shouldn't be eating so little and exercising so hard. By doing that, she is creating too much cortisol and upsetting other hormonal balances. She needs to be taking a smaller calorie deficit and giving it time.

    The reason I disagree with you is not because I'm not a cat person, your profile picture is that of an obese cat, or because you said she's "eating so little and exercising so hard" as though we were living on another planet where that was a bad thing. It's because 1200 calories is sufficient, she's not starving (obviously or she'd be losing weight) and whatever negative effects there are from heightened levels of cortisol are outweighed by the benefits of being in great shape.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    Options
    Because she is a young woman who is 5'5 and she is not extremely overweight. She shouldn't be eating so little and exercising so hard. By doing that, she is creating too much cortisol and upsetting other hormonal balances. She needs to be taking a smaller calorie deficit and giving it time.

    The reason I disagree with you is not because I'm not a cat person, your profile picture is that of an obese cat, or because you said she's "eating so little and exercising so hard" as though we were living on another planet where that was a bad thing. It's because 1200 calories is sufficient, she's not starving (obviously or she'd be losing weight) and whatever negative effects there are from heightened levels of cortisol are outweighed by the benefits of being in great shape.

    *eyeroll* You can be in great shape and eat more than a bird and lose weight.
  • NathanFronk
    NathanFronk Posts: 137 Member
    Options
    Because she is a young woman who is 5'5 and she is not extremely overweight. She shouldn't be eating so little and exercising so hard. By doing that, she is creating too much cortisol and upsetting other hormonal balances. She needs to be taking a smaller calorie deficit and giving it time.

    The reason I disagree with you is not because I'm not a cat person, your profile picture is that of an obese cat, or because you said she's "eating so little and exercising so hard" as though we were living on another planet where that was a bad thing. It's because 1200 calories is sufficient, she's not starving (obviously or she'd be losing weight) and whatever negative effects there are from heightened levels of cortisol are outweighed by the benefits of being in great shape.

    *eyeroll* You can be in great shape and eat more than a bird and lose weight.

    I'm not sure what your point is. If it's just a statement unrelated to this conversation I absolutely agree with you. One can be in great shape, eat more than a bird, and lose weight.

    But that wasn't the issue. We were talking about what she should do to kick start her weight loss again. I only pointed out that people tend to say, "eat more" when these types of threads materialize out of the World Wide Web ether. I firmly believe eating more is not the best advice.

    FIN
  • sleepingtodream
    sleepingtodream Posts: 304 Member
    Options
    I echo alot of what others have said. Start tracking measurements, possibly switch up types of exercises/intensity levels, possibly eat a little more or try and increase your protein consumption (if you are working out quite hard). I started MFP at 144 (5'6") and am currently 125. I lost the weight fairly quickly (started at 1200 calories) but at this point wish I would have slowed the weight loss down a bit. I'm happy with the quick results but finding a good maintenance zone has been trickier than expected. Basically, slow and steady with the weighloss, make some small changes and see if things get get moving again:) Good luck!
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
    Options
    Because she is a young woman who is 5'5 and she is not extremely overweight. She shouldn't be eating so little and exercising so hard. By doing that, she is creating too much cortisol and upsetting other hormonal balances. She needs to be taking a smaller calorie deficit and giving it time.

    The reason I disagree with you is not because I'm not a cat person, your profile picture is that of an obese cat, or because you said she's "eating so little and exercising so hard" as though we were living on another planet where that was a bad thing. It's because 1200 calories is sufficient, she's not starving (obviously or she'd be losing weight) and whatever negative effects there are from heightened levels of cortisol are outweighed by the benefits of being in great shape.

    *eyeroll* You can be in great shape and eat more than a bird and lose weight.

    I'm not sure what your point is. If it's just a statement unrelated to this conversation I absolutely agree with you. One can be in great shape, eat more than a bird, and lose weight.

    But that wasn't the issue. We were talking about what she should do to kick start her weight loss again. I only pointed out that people tend to say, "eat more" when these types of threads materialize out of the World Wide Web ether. I firmly believe eating more is not necessarily the best advice.

    1200 is the minimum you should eat, recommended by this site and by health professionals, unless in some cases for very obese people when recommended by doctors for health reasons (which the OP is clearly not), so why would you recommend someone to eat less than that?

    In fact, to use this site properly, you eat the recommended calories PLUS exercise calories, because this is a NEAT based method, not a TDEE method. Since the OP is apparently not eating that amount, again, why would you recommend she eat less? It is common for people to come here and not set up the tool properly and under-eat because of it. This is most likely one of those cases.
  • hyinkm
    hyinkm Posts: 4 Member
    Options
    Just always remember muscle weighs more than fat. So you may still be toning down but not losing lbs. Maybe change your exercising. stay away from any strength training and do more fat burning exercises. Also remember if you do starve your body the fat is the last to go. It will eat at your muscle before fat.
  • mandasalem
    mandasalem Posts: 346 Member
    Options
    I agree that I overhear "starvation mode" but SERIOUSLY, you're citing "Naked and Afraid" as a case study? Test that girl's muscle mass (if the reality show is actually "real") after she dropped 21 lbs with next to nothing to eat. Test her cardiac health. Get back with me then. Rapid weight loss through HUGE calorie deficits often results in cardiac stress, muscle loss, effects on hair/skin/nails/teeth, and then if/when you gain the weight back, you're putting even more added stress on all your systems.

    Eat more to lose more may sound crazy, but eat more to maintain overall health and to fuel your body for the fitness levels you want to achieve DOES make sense.

    ETA: You lost 11 lbs in your first two weeks? I guess some of that could be water weight, but if you are expecting to lose another 11 at that rate, you ARE going to be frustrated and chasing something unhealthy.

Categories